Mass Effect: 2 Years
by CalibratingJedi
Summary: Shepard's death has left Garrus Vakarian conflicted about what he should do with his life. Should he return to C-Sec? Or travel to the Traverse and display his own means of justice...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Attack

Garrus stood in his usual spot on the Normandy; by the Mako calibrating the weaponry on the tank. It had been a few weeks since the Battle of the Citadel,

and Commander Shepard's team was patrolling the area for remaining geth.

_'Damn geth; always wasting our time.'_ The turian thought. He glared over to the engine room where Tali worked. _'If the quarians never created them, then we _

_wouldn't have this problem.'_ The engine room door opened and Tali walked out. She gave Garrus a wave as she walked to the elevator. He nodded to her as

a hello. "Don't be prejudiced." Garrus told himself, yet the opinions of his father were deep in his mind. Garrus grew up with the best C-Sec officer as a

father. And his dad blamed the Quarians for the entire geth problem. The turian rebel sighed and shook his head to get his father out of his mind.

"Garrus, you okay?" A calm voice asked. Commander Shepard stood there curiously, hands behind her back and leaning toward him with wide violet eyes.

"You look tense, is something wrong?" Garrus felt a slight flutter in his stomach, which seemed to happen when she was around.

"No, I'm fine, sort of- It's nothing important." He managed to say. Lying to Shepard was the hardest thing. She could always tell when something was wrong

with one of her crew members.

"Garrus, my crew is important to me. So if anything's bothering you, you can tell me." Shepard gave a light smile that let him know it was okay to talk to her.

"I was just thinking of my father. I can't imagine how disappointed he is in me now; working with a Spectre I mean. He was watching the news when you

punched that blasted reporter. He thought C-Sec…he thought _I_ should have taken you in to security. But I told him that woman was trying to get under your

skin… that she deserved to be punched right in the face. He was a bit unhappy about that. He can't stand you, no offense."

"Garrus, you're fighting to save the galaxy. You helped stop Saren and the geth. There has to be a part of him that is proud of you."

He sighed, "He's glad that the Council was saved, but my father was displeased that so many died in the Battle of the Citadel, he wished you could've saved

them all. And now that Saren is dead, he thinks I should leave and go back to work at C-Sec. I told him this was more important then that."

Shepard put her hand on Garrus's shoulder, and the flutter in his stomach grew. "I promise you, Garrus, you father will understand everything when this is

over."

He smiled, "Thank you, Shepard." She nodded, "I'm just glad you're better.

He leaned back on the Mako. "Sorry about wasting you're time, I just get so much stress, from my father, friends, and this whole damn mission. Everyone's

feeling the tension. We have too much buildup and not enough time to just relax for a bit. There's always Admiral Hackett who needs help, or some random

person that needs a problem solved."

She looked over at him and grinned, "Tell you what, next dock, you and I are going to get a drink. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would sometimes

go out for a drink. Sometimes, we got a bit drunk and we would teepee houses after my parents went to bed."

He looked at her confused, "Teepee?" She barked out a laugh. "Turians don't do it? Hah! You take toilet paper and through it over their roof, in their trees,

everywhere. We would tie them on their lamplights, mailboxes, anything we could get our hands on. It was easy because where I lived the buildings weren't

50 feet tall."

"That's very…interesting." He said. She smiled. "I'll talk to you later, Garrus." He nodded and turned back to his console as she waked off to the elevator.

Underneath all of the armor, Shepard was human; she can have all of the fun she wants.

A few hours later, Garrus was in the mess hall talking with some crewmates when a massive ship came into the Normandy's view. It began to dart directly

toward the Normandy.

"I've never seen that ship before, but we can't be seen, so why is it heading before us?" A crew mate asked. All of a sudden, a large beam fired at the

Normandy. Fires erupted and explosions were everywhere. "Someone! Help me!" Someone screamed. "Everyone! To the escape pods!" Shouted another.

Smoke filled the air, clouding Garrus's vision, so he crouched down to get a better view. There were a couple bodies on the ground. He sprinted over to help

one of the injured crewmates up.

"Garrus! Over here!" Tali yelled. "Come on!" She ran to help Garrus carry the injured man. They carried him in to the pod and closed the pod. In that pod,

there was Tali, two injured crewmates, and himself.

"How could they just attack us?" Tali asked in confusion. "Our stealth was engaged, there's no way that ship could see us!"

Garrus shook his head. "No one knows." He looked out the small circular window, and the broken Normandy erupted in a ball of flame. And it began to fall

into the planet.

"Shepard and Joker were still on there!" Tali gasped. Everyone in the pod turned their heads toward him.

"What!" Garrus yelled in shock. "Shepard was on there? Why?" The quarian looked at the burning Normandy, "To save Joker." Tali whispered lightly. Under

the mask, light tears fell from her face.

Garrus opened his Omni-tool to activate a com link to other squad members. "Kaidan, please tell me Shepard and Joker are in your pod." Silence. "Liara?" He

again asked. The only reply was silence..

"Garrus, its Joker." Tali lit up, "You're alive!" Garrus felt a small amount of stress disappear. "Thank God, is Shepard with you?"

"I-…I'm sorry everyone. Kaidan, I- Shepard's dead. She died to get me in the pod." Garrus felt as if a large blade drove straight into his gut, into his chest,

into everything. He tilted his head back and felt a wave of anguish swarm his mind; Annabeth Shepard, Savior of the Citadel, was dead.

After the ship crashed into the planet, everyone waited for rescue. Garrus felt like he was waiting for hours. It was weird; sitting and waiting for help. It was

always Shepard, Wrex, and himself that came running in to save the day, not the other way around. He looked out the window to the white planet.

'Shepard.' He thought to himself, 'I wish you were alive. Sitting with me, right now.' He clenched his fists, sweat dripped from the side of his face.

"Garrus?" Tali asked. "Are you okay?" Fire burned through his body. "No! Why would you ask me that? Of course I'm not alright! The Normandy was attacked

and was destroyed along with many of our friends, along with Shepard."

Tali was struck by how furious Garrus was, especially about Shepard. "You're right, I'm sorry I asked." Garrus looked back at her, his fists still tightly clenched

together, but he wasn't mad at her, he was just venting his rage from the new enemy they just made, and he was taking it out on her.

"No, I'm sorry, Tali. I shouldn't have taken it out on you. It's just that damn ship gets under my skin I-." He couldn't piece the words together. He felt like a

krogan; just wanting to punch something, but he's being held back. He sat patiently and quiet until the Alliance came to rescue the surviving crew.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Funerals, Friends, and Family

When all of the squad members were together, at the Human Embassy, Anderson went over to them. "I read the report." He said. "Is it true? Is Shepard really dead?" Everyone looked at Kaidan, who was shaking his head. "She's gone..." Kaidan muttered, "Annabeth is…" The Lieutenant could barely finish his own sentence.

"I'm sorry." Liara said. "I know how much Shepard meant to you, Kaidan." Kaidan was silent for a moment, then he banged his fist on a pillar. "I can't believe this." He said. "First Ashley, and now Annabeth?" Tears began to fill his eyes, and he kicked the same pillar he punched. "Damn it! We save the Citadel, and we're rewarded with the Normandy being destroyed! Whoever did this will pay."

Joker looked down. "It's my fault. She would've been alive if I had left the Normandy sooner. I thought I could've saved the ship."

As Kaidan and Joker were talking about Shepard, Tali looked over at Garrus, who looked beaten and hurt. The turian once admitted to Tali that he had feelings for Shepard, but he asked her not to mention them. He was worried personal relationships would affect the mission. That, and she was taken.

"We'll have a funeral for her." Anderson announced. "Tomorrow. We'll have it in the Presidium by the Conduit. We will have a service for everyone's loss, for Annabeth." Kaidan slightly smiled, but was still crushed by the loss of his 'lover,' _his_ Annabeth.

The next day, there was the funeral service for everyone who had died in the attack. The area by the Conduit was closed off for seating. Everyone was wearing black or white. All of the crew members were in black suits or dresses, or something elegant. The area was decorated with white seats and roses that twirled around them that met at all of the pictures on a platform around a podium, where Kaidan was standing. Garrus, Tali, Joker, Liara, and all of the surviving crew members sat in the first 3 rows. Friends and family sat in the remaining rows of chairs. Kaidan waited for everyone's attention to make his speech.

"Commander Annabeth Shepard, was basically all I knew at first. I didn't know her drives, what gave her the strength she had. But after Eden Prime, I discovered how dedicated she was, Not just to track down Saren, but to save the galaxy. Annabeth wanted to save lives, and that is why she became the first human Spectre. She became the person she was because of her strong kindness to every race. She's a hero, she formed all of the great people you're sitting with today they're all heroes. It wasn't just Shepard that stopped Saren and the geth, it was everyone that worked with her, and we all became a family on that ship. They are all an inspiration that we can follow, they're all good people, and they will be remembered with honor." He looked at everyone sitting in the chairs. "Thank you all for your support in being here, you're welcome to view the pictures of those who were lost, to say your goodbyes." Kaidan looked over at a picture of Shepard. "Goodbye, Commander." He said as words of dismissal. Families went up quietly to view soldiers, while others left the service. Kaidan went back to his chair, he leaned over and rubbed his face in his hands, and Garrus patted him on the back.

When everyone was gone, the squad members met together. "What do we do now?" Liara asked aloud. Tali spoke saying, "I'm going to continue my pilgrimage." She looked over at Kaidan, "What will you do?" He announced he was going to continue to be a soldier in the Alliance, and then he asked what Garrus was going to do. Garrus paused to think. "I guess I'll go back to C-Sec. Maybe I'll try to be a Spectre." He laughed coldly. "That will make my father proud." He said sarcastically. "But for now, I'm going for a walk." He turned and left.

As he walking by the C-Sec Academy, he noticed he was being followed by a woman and a hovering machine. He stopped and turned around for the woman to catch up to him.

"Khalisah bint Sinah Al-Jilani, Westerlund News," She greeted herself. Garrus remembered her from awhile ago. 'Oh God,' He thought. 'This lady again.' "I don't want to talk to anyone right now, especially the press." Garrus said bluntly.

"But Garrus," She said. "you helped defeat Saren. A lot of people want to hear the voice from Shepard's squad." Garrus sighed; he knew this annoying girl wouldn't leave him be no matter how many times he says no. "Fine." He said.

The woman took out a data pad and the hovering robot's light went on to record beside her. "So, Garrus." She said. "How did it feel to track down and murder one of your own kind?"

Garrus put his hands behind his back and stood up straight. "Saren Arterius was a disgrace to all turians; he killed innocents and sided with the geth. And to clarify, we did not murder Saren. Shepard offered him to step aside, but Sovereign's control over Saren was too strong, he killed himself, not us." A small fire lit inside him, this woman's questions made Garrus's blood boil.

"Yes…thank you for clarifying. Also, it is rumored the flagship Sovereign was an actual Reaper. What is your stand on this topic?"

"On Virmire, we made contact with Sovereign. The sentient machine spoke of the Reapers to Commander Shepard; and also mentioned of our inevitable death. Sovereign's power of indoctrination over Saren couldn't have been from a normal ship. It would have to be alive, and very smart for that kind of temptation. Yes, I believe Sovereign was a Reaper."

"I hear that is a feared rumor. One more question. It has been said that Commander Shepard was killed in action and the Normandy was destroyed. What is your reaction, and who do you think it was that killed your so very famous Commander?"

Garrus's muscles tensed, this idiot tried to make Shepard look bad, and so she punched the reporter, and now she's asking for it again. "I'm done here." He said as he walked away.

He took an elevator down to the C-Sec Academy, wanting to pay a friend a visit. When he walked out the elevator, he went to his friend's office.

Chellick sat at his desk investigating a small case of drug use when Garrus walked in. Chellick didn't notice until he looked up from his computer.

"Garrus!" He said with a smile. He got up from his desk to shake Garrus's hand. "I heard about what happened, it's all over the Galactic News. I'm sorry about your friend."

"It's fine." Garrus said. "It's good to see you. How have you been?" Chellick and Garrus walked back to his desk, and Garrus sat down in a chair in front of the desk. "There's a lot of cleaning up on the Citadel, C-Sec is always busy now. I'm one of the few that isn't part of the clean up, some of us have to investigate other cases and track down people with drugs. Criminals think they can get away with anything because C-Sec is paying attention to the Battle of the Citadel repairs and hunting down geth. Unfortunately for them, they've got me." Garrus chuckled. "It's good talking to you, I've been so strained and upset I'm just glad I can talk to a friend."

"Do you want to go get a drink?" Chellick asked. "There's a bar that wasn't destroyed in the Battle of the Citadel, and they have a lot of turian and quarian drinks. I like it there." Garrus nodded and they both went off.

The bar was called Trinity. It wasn't packed but there were a few businessmen on lunch break having a drink or a small meal. Garrus and Chellick sat up on the stools and ordered 2 light beers.

"Spoken to your father lately?" Chellick asked as he took a small sip. Garrus shook his head, and rubbed his face. "I have nothing to say to him, he'll just complain about me not joining C-Sec already and that Shepard is gone and there's nothing I can do about it."

"Garrus, maybe there is something you can do." Chellick said lightly. Garrus scoffed and looked at him. "Like what?" He asked slightly raising his voice. "She died, it's not like Shepard can be brought back to life!"

"No, I don't mean like that." Chellick said. "I mean, becoming a Spectre, in Shepard's name." Garrus put all of his attention on his friend, "Becoming a Spectre?" He laughed, "My father-"

"Screw what your father thinks Garrus. You're an adult, decide things for yourself." Garrus smiled; Chellick was right. His father didn't have to pry and try to control Garrus's life. "Thanks, Chellick. Don't know what I'd do without you."

Chellick smiled, "You'd still whine about your father like you were 5." Garrus laughed and jokingly hit him in the arm. "Goodbye, Chellick, I'll let you know how everything goes." Chellick nodded then said, "But Garrus, you really should talk to your father, to let him know."

Garrus stood at the door to his father's house; he lived in the housing district of the Presidium. Garrus remembered growing up here; he always wanted to play silly games, pretending to be a great officer like his father. But the children wanted to stay in there own homes, not to play stupid games. As Garrus grew older, he spent more time reading, and studying at the C-Sec Academy. That's when he met Chellick. A few kids were beating him, making fun of the poems he wrote when he was younger. Since Garrus hated injustice, he went over and tackled the pests. Garrus read the poems, and liked them. They were about other galaxies and adventure. They became friends from then on.

After Garrus rang the bell, the door slid open. There stood his father, shocked to see he was here. "Garrus." He said. "Father." Garrus said back. Garrus hand felt like it was about to drop from shaking; he had disappointed his father already by showing up without notice.

"I wish you had planned this meeting, Garrus. You know the tradition." His father said, scolding him.

"I would have, Father. However, I was on a ship saving the galaxy." Garrus said back sternly. His father laughed. "By not doing things properly, you are saving the galaxy? Then why are you here?" As Garrus was about to speak, he hear a voice call out.

"Who is at the door, Manius?" They both looked to see Garrus's mother, Nytera. She was in a long, blue dress with a white hem. She lit up with a smile, "You're alive!" She cried out. His mother ran over and embraced her son.

"Mother…" He said surprised. His mother never acted this way; she was always quiet and usually never home. She worked at the turian Embassies on the Presidium.

She smiled at Garrus. "Come in and sit down." She said. Garrus sat in a chair and sat straight up. His father, stood with his arms crossed looking at Garrus. "I was watching the news when saw the report; I'm so glad you're alive, and I'm sorry about you're friend."

"Yes, the Spectre. It is…displeasing to hear that she died." His father implied. "She helped the Alliance and C-Sec stop the geth ship, Sovereign."

Garrus felt a pulse of anger run through his body. "Her name is Commander Shepard, Manius." He said as he coldly expressed his father's name. "And she did more than just help, she, her crew, and I did more than you could imagine. And you have your facts wrong, Sovereign is a Reaper."

Nytera looked over at Manius, who stood straighter than he usually did. "We have already discussed this, Garrus. You and your Commander Shepard need to come to your senses and face the facts, the Reapers aren't real." Manius looked over at the clock, "Now I have business to attend to, you may stay here as long as you like, but do not discuss anything about your imaginary Reapers." He set his arms to his side and walked out the door without saying a proper goodbye.

"Why can't you and your father get along?" Nytera asked sadly. Garrus leaned over and kissed his mother's forehead. "I'm sorry, mother. We're different people, he expects me to be like him, which I'm not."

She nodded her head, and then looked up at Garrus. "I know that you did not just come here to argue with Manius. So, why did you come?"

"I'm thinking about becoming a Spectre." He said, fiddling with his hands, "In Shepard's name. I know what father will think, but I want to do it for her…"

"She sounds like a great person. I've only heard the worst from your father, what was she like?" Nytera asked.

"Dedicated, is what I think of. Always wanting to help people, she helped me." Nytera tilted her head questioning what he said. Garrus said, "After we would debate about any topic, I would rethink my thoughts. I realized I was wrong at some points." He couldn't think of how to put anything else in words. She was hard to describe, like a human trying to explain the taste of water. He smiled to himself, thinking of the times when they were in their debates, or when he overheard Shepard trying to get personal with Wrex. "I want to follow her footsteps, I can't just sit around while innocents are abused by people who think they can get away with everything.

"Garrus, before you do anything rash to upset your father, you should join C-Sec first, then train to be a Spectre. Do it for me? I'm too tired to hear your father's ranting."

Garrus smiled, "Of course, Mother." He got up to say his goodbye and left to go to the C-Sec Academy.


End file.
